Confusion in the Dark

My chest ached. Bao’s hands remained wrapped around mine, not hard enough to hurt, but they felt wrong.

Where warm skin should have met mine, now felt like vines, leaves, and thorns. It was like the shadows had given birth to a bush that could pass itself off as human.

Just like the man who broke into my house on my eighth birthday, and my dream yesterday. The vines tightened slightly, making me wince as damp breath brushed my ear. “You’re not supposed to exist, Rei. Somewhere, deep down. You must know that.”

I shook my head and tried to yank free. There was nothing wrong with my feet, but Bao was still sitting on the desk, and I knew very little about fighting.

The vines tightened again as Bao’s body shifted—became looser. The only points of reference were his eyes that never wavered from mine, and the vines around my hands.

But the rest started slithering, cracking, growing, filling the room, and blocking out the light until I couldn’t make out anything except for his eyes. My heart wouldn’t stop racing, and my lungs felt like they were burning.

I was going to pass out in a room where I should have been safe, with a creature that I thought would never hurt me. Nothing had ever hurt me before, and I didn’t understand why this was happening.

A leaf brushed my face, and I realized I was crying. When did I start crying?

“I’m sorry.”

His eyes haven’t moved, but his voice is all around me. I’m scared to look away. My fingers are growing numb from gripping my screen so tightly.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it cracked, and for a split second, the image of it falling to the floor when the lights turned back on almost made me hysterical.

Why is this happening to me? What did I do wrong?

“You’re not supposed to exist, Rei. Not like this. We’ve been trying to get you back for so long, and”-

And what? I tried to breathe and felt my throat constrict. The vines weren’t touching my neck, but I couldn’t even open my mouth. It may as well have been superglued shut.

“Rei, please close your eyes now. It won’t hurt, I promise. It’ll be just another dream.”

I shook my head, but the lack of oxygen mixed with the vines wrapping more closely around my body, not yet pricking me with their thorns, was going to turn this into a moot point.

My hands felt like lead weights, and my feet may as well be burrowed into the floor. I smacked my head back, hoping to feel the wall and wake up, only to find vines already there, and threading into my hair.

“Go to sleep, Rei.”

The vines were now wrapping around my head. I waited to feel them cover my mouth and nose, knowing I’d never wake up—when the lights came back on, and the room was empty again.

I bolted for the door, throwing it open and ducking behind the nearest desk. Nothing came after me. The shadows stayed where they were supposed to, and there wasn’t a trace of green anywhere in sight.

No sign of anyone not wearing a uniform. I slowly rose and turned to realize I had an audience. Several scientists and Mrs. Astral were staring at me, confused and concerned.

I didn’t know what to do. My tablet was still in my hands, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn it around even when Mrs. Astral approached me.

“Rei? Is everything alright? Did you fall asleep and have a nightmare?”

It was the second question that made me move. I quickly typed. -What made the power go off?-

Mrs. Astral frowned. “What are you talking about, Rei? The power hasn’t gone off.”

-It turned off a few minutes ago. There was a man in the room with me. He was trying to hurt me!-

I shoved my tablet at her, praying that she believed me, hoping that I wasn’t going crazy. I knew the bush man was real because Zack had seen him.

But Mrs. Astral shook her head, placed her hands on my shoulders, and asked. “Rei, how long have you been here?”

Huh? Why is she asking about that? I couldn’t have hidden my confusion even if I wasn’t already panicking.

Mrs. Astral continued, tone soft and soothing… just like Bao’s had been. “You’re a smart girl, Rei. But I need you to think about this. There are several people in this room. People you know and trust. Do you really think we’d let some stranger near you?”

I shook my head. There’s no way that would happen. But something had.

“And as for a power outage,” she points at the nearest row of computers. All of them were on and appeared to be fine. “Do you think everyone would just be sitting around if something like that happened? Weather and freak accidents aside, this base has back-up generators just in case the solar panels fail. You know that, don’t you?”

I did. That was one of the first things I’d learned when my parents decided I was old enough to learn about electricity. All of the bases we’ve lived on were designed the same way.

A power outage wasn’t impossible, just unlikely. I took a deep breath and typed. -Why did you ask me about how long I’ve been in here?-

Mrs. Astral pointed at the nearest clock. “Because from what I can tell, you’ve only been in here about twenty minutes. And you haven’t left the reading room once. If someone had come in here, we would have seen him and made sure he didn’t bother you.”

-But I saw him. I’m not lying!-

“I never said you are, dear. I’m not supposed to do this, but I’d hate it if this got in the way of your love of reading. You shouldn’t have to think about anything more stressful than what you’re going to wear on the plane. Come with me, please.”

Even though it was framed as a request, Mrs. Astral gently took me by the arm and led me towards the security office behind the checkout desk.

I’ve never been inside. There was no reason for me to even think about it. Every library I’ve been to has a security office. It struck me as odd that libraries needed security, since the whole point was that you could borrow anything for free.

But that was before I found out about book banning during a history lesson. The security office wasn’t very impressive. Monitors covered a wall, with a long desk and filing cabinets as the only other furniture.

A man in his mid-thirties wearing a dark blue security guard uniform looked up as we entered and smiled quizzically. “What’s going on, Mrs. Astral? Is this young lady causing a disturbance?”

“Not exactly, Harold. But would you be a dear, and rewind the footage in front of the main reading room? Just for a few minutes?”

“Sure, you’re the boss. But what exactly am I looking for?”

“You’re not looking for anything. I just want to prove to Rei that she had a bad dream, and there’s nothing to worry about.” She smiled at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile back.

I was too busy watching Harold open a laptop set into the desk, and begin typing away.

“Please, turn your attention to the middle screen, ladies. Feel free to tell me if you need me to go back further.”

I nodded and frowned when the middle screen went black before showing me alone in the reading room. It looked like I was reading about lions when I jolted out of my chair and rushed towards the door.

There was no sign of Bao or any evidence that the power had gone out. Harold turned to Mrs. Astral. “Should I rewind a bit further?”

“Yes, please. Why don’t you go back to when Rei first came in? It would be about twenty or twenty-five minutes at least.”

“No problem, ma’am.” Once again, the screen went black. I bit my lip, wanting to see proof that I wasn’t crazy, yet also terrified that I would. I didn’t know which was worse.

I saw myself enter the library from a bird's-eye view. Mrs. Astral greeted me and led me to the private reading room. I sat down, checked my screen, and waited for Mrs. Astral, who had paused to talk to a patron before heading back to me with her arms filled with books about Australia.

She placed them in front of me and walked away after a minute. I grabbed the first one, and… I leaned forward, certain I had to be wrong. Are lions native to Australia? Did Mrs. Astral grab a book about Africa by mistake?

I’ve never seen her do something like that before, and she’d left the entire stack with me. It was the first one on the pile. I watched, eyes flicking from myself turning the pages, to Mrs. Astral going about her business, to the front door.

Nothing happened. The door didn’t open, and there was nothing to indicate that the power had gone out. But I still saw the moment my body tensed right before running out the door.

The book was still lying on the desk undisturbed, and the page clearly showed a male lion. I turned to Mrs. Astral, who was smiling warmly at me.

“You see? Nothing happened, Rei. It’s true that you didn’t fall asleep, but something seems to have upset you. Do you want me to call your parents or Dr. Markert?”

I shook my head. -My parents are coming to pick me up in a few hours. They’re getting off early and taking me to the Drop Off.-

“That sounds like fun! Can I at least get you some water? You look so pale. I don’t want you to pass out on us.”

And risk having a worse episode. Mrs. Astral was too nice to say something like that, but I could tell that’s what she was thinking. And, more importantly, I didn’t want her to call anyone, especially Dr. Markert.

I didn’t need to waste more time repeating the same things. I’d do plenty of that once we moved. But I had to get through a few more days, and there was only one way I could think of to do that.

Harold and Mrs. Astral were still watching me; each looked concerned, though Mrs. Astral was also sympathetic, while Harold was confused. I didn’t blame him.

-Are there lions in Australia?-

Mrs. Astral blinked, mouth puckering slightly as she asked. “Excuse me?”

I pointed at the middle screen. -The book I was reading has lions in it. Is someone trying to breed them there as an experiment?-

It wouldn’t be the oddest one I’ve heard of, but Mrs. Astral shook her head and tried to laugh. “I have no idea. Someone must have put it on the wrong shelf, and I just grabbed it without looking. It happens all the time.”

“Yeah, it does,” Harold nodded, rising slowly as if on cue as Mrs. Astral wrapped an arm around me.

“It’s not a big deal, though. None of this is. You just had a little scare. If you really don’t want me to call anyone, then I’ll respect your wishes. Now, what do you say we get you some water? I’ll grab one from the break room instead of from the cooler. Would you like a flavored one?” She smiled at Harold as he opened the door for us. “Thanks again, Harold. Sorry about the fuss.”

“No worries, Mrs. Astral. I’d rather do something easy like this than deal with a real emergency. You two have a good day now.” The door swung shut, neatly preventing me from doing anything except follow Mrs. Astral again.